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How to replace the lovehandles with a rock-hard washboard

© Matt Danielson

The first thing you have to realize, is that there's no "magic trick" to it. It took you months, probably years to get the lovehandles in the first place, so no matter how many crunches you do, they aren't going to magically melt away over the weekend. The sad truth is that you'll have to work for it. You'll have to burn more calories than you consume, and you'll have to stick to the plan for several weeks in order to achieve it. That means, less snacks in front of the tube and more time on the treadmill. Doesn't sound like fun eh?

But don't despair! There IS a way to make it through these weeks without suffering from hunger and boredom! As long as you keep in mind that you aren't getting anything for free, least of all a washboard, there are plenty of ways to help yourself out along the way. But first, let's get down to the actual fatburning process. If you don't know the basics, you'll risk going through a lot of unnecessary suffering that won't result in what you want.

Priorities The main objective is, surprisingly enough, NOT to burn fat but to maintain your muscle! How come? The answer lies in the function of the muscle vs. the fat. Fat is a passive storage of energy. It does nothing but sit there, waiting to be used. The muscle, on the other hand, is ACTIVE tissue, using energy itself. The more muscle you have, the more energy is used, and it does in fact burn a substantial amount of energy even while you sleep! Think of every pound of muscle you're able to keep as a little fat-burning aid, burning a little extra 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

Setting the gauge First of all, you have to find out your basal metabolism, i.e. maintenance need for calories. This is essential to make sure you're not fumbling in the dark when you start altering it. Doing so is easy. Write down everything you eat for a week (without cheating). Get a good calorie-counting book, sum it up and split the total calories into 7, and you have the daily maintenance level, assuming you didn't gain or lose weight during that week. Assume you ended up with the sum of 3500 kcal a day, which would be a fairly big bodybuilder, let's say with a bodyweight about 220 lbs.

Cutting calories Aim for creating a small calorie deficit of about 500 kcal a day.

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