How to Lose Belly Fat Over Easter

Chocolate. Ham. Marshmallow bunny rabbits. Plenty of ways to eat yourself into a new pair of pants this weekend.

So here are 5 ways to just say “NO” to gaining weight. Discover how to lose belly fat over Easter with these tips…

1) Workout first thing in the morning

There’s nothing magical about training first thing in the morning. I don’t believe that it will help you lose fat faster than any exercise at any other time of the day.

HOWEVER…

Exercising first thing in the morning helps you get it done and if you have a busy holiday weekend coming up, complete with Easter Egg Hunts and family visits, the truth is that the morning is the only time you’ll get a chance to burn belly fat.

2) Plan some treats and don’t deviate from the schedule.

If Aunt Sue makes the most amazing dessert every year for Easter dinner, then schedule that in your eating plan, but set limits on all the other goodies that you get offered.

And if you can’t keep it in the house without eating it, get RID of the junk. Don’t feel bad about tossing junk food…after all, it is called JUNK food.

3) Get outside with your family & stay away from food.

We all eat too much because we are bored or just want something to do. So if you’re finding it hard to keep your hand out of the mini-chocolate egg bowl, then get your hand (and your butt) outta that room!

Go play with the youngsters outside. Play some sports, have fun. Go for a really long walk around the neighborhood. Just do something!

4) Avoid all liquid calories.

Cut out the soda, the booze, the booze mix, and even the orange juice at breakfast (it probably just makes you sleep anyways). Plus, research shows that liquid calories don’t “register” and do not satisfy our appetite.

There’s just no room for liquid sugar in your diet if you want to lose belly fat.

5) Fast for Fat Loss

If you haven’t checked out Brad Pilon’s book Eat Stop Eat, do it now, and find out how you can live a simple, stress-free, fat loss lifestyle with his easy 24-hour plan. It’s the anti-diet and would be perfect to use from Friday dinner to Saturday dinner.

Bonus Tip) Do short, burst workouts that use multi-muscle exercises to train your entire body in just one simple, short workout.

You can train your entire body in just 2-3 exercises. Here are a couple of sample workouts.

1A) Dumbbell Squat
1B) Pushups (any kind)

The dumbbell squat trains your upper back and your lower body. The pushups obviously train your chest and arms, but also your torso (abs) as well. That’s a complete workout right there.

Do 8-12 reps for squats and 15-30 reps for pushups. Don’t rest between exercises and just keep going for 10-20 minutes, whatever you have time for. That hits all the hot zones of the body.

Click here for the full Hot Zone Workout program

Here’s a second example of total body workout, using only a couple of exercises.

1A) Jumps – 10 reps
1B) Spiderman Pushup – 10 reps per side
1C) Bodyweight Rows – 15 reps

Rest one minute at the end of the circuit and repeat 3-5 times. Another classic total body workout, but with bodyweight exercises only. That way you can lose belly fat by working out at a park.

There are thousands of ways you can combine multi-muscle exercises to train all of your muscles, burn calories, and lose belly fat.

Of course, you might also have heard the “news” that diet is more important than exercise for fat loss, so make sure you have planned ahead to enjoy a few treats (without binging) and to stay away from mindless eating.

Have a (fat) blast this weekend,

Craig Ballantyne, CSCS, MS