How to get rid of my flabby tummy?

Well to be frank, its fat.

No matter how many situps, crunches or curls you do, it will not get rid of that fat.

Everyone has abdominal  muscles – under that fat.

If we didn’t, we wouldn’t be able to stay upright, flex or bend our torso. The core muscles that run around your middle (transverse abdominus), cross over the front and back (obliques), run down the front and back of your body (Rectus abdominus and erector spinae) help to stop excessive extension and rotation of the spine and also keep a strong safe postural position whilst be perform other bigger movements.

If you have this layer of fat around your midriff you are simply not burning off more calories than you eat. So you need to look at what you are eating and how much.

As we get older, we lose muscle and this causes the body to store fat – sit ups will not have any effect on this at all.

To lose fat and get a flatter stomach you must

1.     Work all the major muscle groups so that you increase your metabolism.

2.     Workout regularly

3.     Have a diet that is low in saturated far, processed food, sugar and alcohol.

If you want to look like an athlete you have to behave like one I’m afraid!

What should I eat after training?

Its a very common question.

I recently went to the Fitpro convention - 2 days of classes and lectures just on fitness and health. It was great.

One of the lectures I went to was by Anita Bean, a registered nutritionist with a degree in nutrition and food science. She is also one of hte UKs most respected nutritionists. She had a lot of great things to say, and everything is evidence-based. This is what current research says about post-exercise food:

It is commonly recognised that most people should eat protein and carbohydrate in a ratio of 1:3 or 1:4 after exercise (ie more carbohydrate than protein).

For most exercisers 15-25g protein is all that is needed (average 20g).

The reason is that the combination of these increases glycogen storage, amino acid and glucose uptake, increases muscle protein synthesis, reduces muscle damage and soreness, increases recovery and therefore subsequent exercise performance. 

For elite and endurance athletes it is key to consume this within 30 minutes of exercise. For example, after the marathon I made sure I had a protein/carb shake almost immediately after finishing. Sometimes your stomach can't take much more!

For most exercisers it is not so critical. You can consume these within 24 hours of exercise therefore should look to include them in your daily diet.

So what sort of protein should be consumed?

High quality and fast absorbing protein such as milk whey protein, casein, egg, meat.

Examples of what 20g protein looks like:

3 eggs

600ml milk

27g whey protein powder

85g cheddar

85g meat/poultry

450g plain yoghurt

250g Greek yoghurt

100g fish

Carbohydrates can be included in your diet in the following ways:

1. Start the day with whole grains. Try a hot cereal, like porridge oats, or a cold cereal that lists a whole grain first on the ingredient list and is low in sugar. But finding sugar in cereals takes a bit of detective work, beware many can be overloaded.

2. Use whole grain breads for lunch or snacks. Confused about how to find a whole-grain bread? Look for bread that lists as the first ingredient whole wheat, whole rye, or some other whole grain —and even better, one that is made with only whole grains, such as 100 percent whole wheat bread. Or make your own!

3. Try brown rice, bulgur, wheat berries, whole wheat pasta, or another whole grain with your dinner instead of spuds. 

4. Choose whole fruit instead of juice. An orange has two times as much fiber and half as much sugar as a 12-ounce glass of orange juice. 

5. Bring on the beans. Beans are an excellent source of slowly digested carbohydrates as well as a great source of protein.