How to Get a Flat Stomach & Toned Legs

To get a flat stomach and toned legs, you will have to start by losing the layer of fat that is covering them. Regardless of how many crunches or lunges you do, if there is fat covering your stomach and legs, you will never be able to see any results. Losing fat from one part of the body is impossible and according to the Healthy Eating website, you have to lose fat from the whole body to start losing fat from the stomach and legs.

Instructions

• 1

  Avoid result-sabotaging foods, such as sugar, saturated fats, processed and fried foods and simple carbohydrates. Eat healthy fats, such as olive oil, raw nuts and avocado. Get carbohydrates from slow-digesting, complex carbohydrate sources such as brown rice and whole-wheat breads. Consume lean protein such as fish and chicken.

• 2

  Divide your breakfast, lunch and dinner into five to six smaller meals that you can consume throughout the day. Eating more often will keep your metabolism active and promote fat burn.

• 3

  Don't eat anything two to three hours before going to bed because your body needs to focus on burning excess fat, not on burning the food you just consumed which is bound to be stored as fat.

• 4

  Start a weight training regimen that will help burn fat from all over the body, including the stomach and legs. Muscle mass requires more energy from the body to sustain, resulting in an active metabolism and fat burn even after you've ended your workout session. Target all muscles of the body by splitting them up over three days of the week. Train legs and arms on Mondays, back and shoulders on Wednesdays and shoulders on Fridays. Take one day of rest in between each workout so the muscles can restore themselves.

• 5

  Target your "problem areas" with exercises for the abdominal and legs. Train the upper abdominals by doing sit-ups and crunches. Tone the lower abdominals with leg lifts and reverse crunches and do side bends and bicycle crunches for the obliques. Do lunges and squats for the front and back of the thigh and do calf raises to sculpt the calfs. Perform as many repetitions and sets as your fitness level allows, but focus on form rather than how many repetitions you can do. Add weights if possible for a bigger challenge.

• 6

  Work up a sweat with cardiovascular exercise, three times per week. Exercise on the elliptical machine, run, swim, ride a bike or train on the stair-climber. Cardiovascular exercise gets the metabolism going resulting in all-over fat loss. Build it up to complete 30 to 45 minutes per workout.

• 7

  Manage stress because it can lead to food binges. According to Women's Health Magazine cortisol release is triggered by stress. Cortisol is associated to fat gain especially in the stomach area.

• 8

  Drink at least eight glasses of water per day to keep the body hydrated, to promote digestive health and to keep your joints from stiffening.