20 Day Guide To A Flat Belly (Day 9 Is Fun!)

DAY 1:

You know it, I know it. Pretty much everyone knows it. But you came here so somebody needs to tell you… and we will: NO SUGAR. Cut down the sugar intake whether it is in your tea or fresh juice or if you’re fond of having dessert after dinner. Flat belly means having a special kind of willpower and that means having no chocolate brownies with ice cream or bread pudding from your favorite dessert place. However, we all get an occasional craving for something sweet, so here is a recipe for a very healthy brownie. Too good to be true? Try it yourself!

SUGAR-FREE BROWNIE RECIPE

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup (90 g) whole wheat flour

• ¾ cup (60 g) unsweetened cocoa powder

• ¼ tsp baking powder

• ¼ tsp salt

• 1 tbsp (14 g) unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted and cooled slightly

• 2 large egg whites, room temperature

• 1 tsp vanilla extract

• 1 ¼ tsp vanilla stevia (or adjusted to taste)

• ¼ cup (60 g) plain nonfat Greek yogurt

• ¾ cup (180 ml) nonfat milk

How to make it?

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F, and lightly coat an 8”-square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.

2. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together the butter, egg whites, vanilla, and vanilla stevia. Stir in the Greek yogurt, mixing until no large lumps remain. Stir in the milk. Add in the flour mixture, stirring just until incorporated.

4. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake at 300°F for 13-16 minutes. Cool completely to room temperature in the pan, and let the brownies sit for at least 6 hours at room temperature before serving.

DAY 2

Make sure to drink 4 bottles of water today, and make it a habit to do this everyday for the next 20 days. You will see the difference yourself. Water is the best and easiest solution to most of your problems. It hydrated your skin, increases your metabolism, cleanses you from the inside and acts as an appetite suppressant to an extent. Sometimes, you overeat when you are in fact more thirsty and not that hungry so it is best habit to drink 1-2 glasses of water before every meal. Water doesn’t have any calories and it also fulfills a little bit of your appetite, so what could be better than having it?

DAY 3

Change your diet from white to brown! Brown rice instead of white rice, brown sugar instead of white sugar and so on. Brown rice contains fiber, antioxidants, vitamins and minerals and overall has more nutrients than white rice. Similarly, brown sugar has more nutrients as well and aids in improving digestion. It contains potassium, magnesium and iron as well. White sugar does not include any of these, so if your diet include lots of sugar intake (which, it shouldn’t) it is best to convert to brown sugar.

DAY 4

Sleep is your body and brain’s way of recharging themselves. The first step to a healthy routine is to have a healthy sleeping schedule. Unless you get enough sleep at night, most of your bodily functions will be inefficient. Your metabolism will slow down, productivity will decrease and you will see a huge difference in your energy levels. So be sure to take at least 6-7 hours of sleep at night and see the difference for yourself.

DAY 5

If you cannot completely stop the urge to snack, at least switch to healthier alternative. Replace your bag of potato chips with air-popped popcorn, regular yogurt with Greek yogurt and your fried fries with baked fries. Yes, I know. It does sound ridiculous at first but once you get used to doing this, it is not actually that bad. And the flat belly would be worth it!

DAY 6

Take 45 minutes out of your life for a workout:

• 25 min for cardio

• 10 min for stretches

• 5 min on weight training

• 5 min muscle relaxing

DAY 7

Stress is something you should stay away from anyway, to be fair, but if you’re trying to get a flat belly you need to try extra hard to live a stress-free life. And we are not kidding about this. The scientific explanation is that stress triggers a certain hormone that signals your body to store fat and that results in you feeling hungry and crave for your comfort food. But eventually, we all know that stress is a part of life and we all have our fair share of it in our lives so the best way is to meditate for a few minutes each day or maybe join a yoga class.

DAY 8

Repeat the exercise from Day 6!

DAY 9

Make a list of your favorite foods and stick to them. There have been many recent studies that state that increasing the variety of your diet actually helps to discourage losing fat. The best way is to stick to a diet that your body is used to and work your routine around it, because you also have an idea of how body reacts to these foods.

DAY 10

Stock up on your nuts!!! A handful of nuts a day can go a long way to satisfy your diet as well as keep it full of nutrition. Whether it is with oatmeal in the morning or an afternoon snack in the office, nuts can play a key role in reducing your belly fat and keep you full!

DAY 11

Another day for some light exercise. Yeah, it’s a bummer. But we promise to not make it as hard as last time because we have faith that you are making all the required changes in your diet that we have listed above!

• 5 push-ups

• 10 squats

• 5 reverse crunches

• 5 lunges

• 10 second plank

DAY 12

Become best friends with eggs for this journey. They are high in protein, super healthy and full of nutrition. You can eat an egg anytime of the day you want but try to replace your morning Corn Flakes with it first. Cereal is packed with sugar and we decided to cut down on your sugar intake on Day 1, right? So, let’s stick to it. You are doing great so far!

DAY 13

Repeat the exercise from Day 11!

DAY 14

Dance your worries away! Dancing is a great way to relieve yourself of the daily stress and worries. And as we mentioned earlier, stress is not good for achieving a flat belly. Dancing also helps to shed overall body fat as it engages all the muscles and tones your body as a whole. It is one of the very few fun things that is a great hobby and also acts as a workout for you!

DAY 15

Now that you have most of your diet and workout routine in control, let’s go one step further and replace water with a much healthy substitute: WARM WATER. If you live in a country with a warm climate this would be super hard for you to do and we understand this. That is why we are introducing this for the last 5 days of your regime. Hopefully, the change in your body would be so drastic you would keep up with this on your own, even when the 20 days are up!

DAY 16

Repeat the exercise routine from Day 6!

DAY 17

Include apple cider vinegar in your diet. It is one of the most widely accepted supplements for weight loss, especially for trimming belly fat, and it is all the rage these days. However, there is a lot of controversy regarding the intake of apple cider vinegar in liquid form. Many studies show that it harms the tooth enamel and causes stomach problems in the long run. A great alternative is to take capsules instead.

DAY 18

Incorporate more beans into your diet. Lentils, beans, chickpeas - they are all part of the same family and have exceptional benefits when it comes to having a fiber or protein-rich diet. The easiest way to eat them is to include them in a salad!

DAY 19

Repeat the exercise from Day 11!

DAY 20

Cut yourself some slack! If you haven’t been able to follow this diet each day exactly as it was, it’s not a big deal. You can make up for it the next day or the day after. The key is consistency. Reprimanding yourself won’t get you anywhere, in fact it is worse for your weight loss journey. Your mental health plays a major role in your physical health. Being anxious about your diet or health is almost as bad as having a bad diet. So remember to feed your mind positive thoughts and keep up this routine even if the days have ended. If not today, you will have a flat belly tomorrow.