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Fall of last year you figured a donut once in an awhile or some other fat and sugar laden nasty food wouldn't hurt. Your excuse it is the' muscle-bulking season' or you will 'work it off'. The next thing you know your waist measurement is almost the same size of your chest. You look in the mirror and you see your v-taper look like a square block. You say to your self 'what the heck happen to all my hard work in the gym?' Well all of your hard work is still there if you have been training hard, but it is covered in fat. My better half, my wife once asked me when I was expecting? At that moment, I knew it was time to shed the fat.

Well the first thing to do is to make a final personal goal. For example, the abdominal muscles showing by May. But to start you need to start with other goals to build to the main final goal. These could include;

Physical Well Goals. This could be working up to 30 minutes of physical activity daily to start. Light stretching to make the muscles feel good. Maybe adding some sit ups to strengthen the core.

Physique goals. After achieving your physical well goals you can start adding more demanding goals such as reducing your fat percentage. Add aerobic fitness of 30 minutes to your workout schedule. Or maybe start a weight resistance program.

Performance accomplishment goals. This could include small goals in your weight resistance program such as benching a certain amount. Or running the mile in a certain time. This is where you place the goal of seeing your abdominal muscles by May.

Each goal that you set and reach is a stepping stone to your final targeted goal. You could keep a personal diary of your fitness progress and see how far you have come in your health and strength pursuit. I used to put pictures of ab shots on my refrigerator to help keep me focused. Now I also keep a watchful eye in the mirror.

When I drop an inch or two off my waist I reward myself. And not with eating a whole pie or chocolate cake. Usually I buy some kind of hiking gear, camera equipment or clothing.

Make sure you keep a supply of healthy foods around you to help prevent eating some junk food when you do get hungry. Fresh fruit, nuts, non-fat cottage cheese, you get the idea.

When you start your diet don't go crazy eating little to nothing. If you follow this practice you will lose all the muscle you worked so hard to build. I cycle my carbohydrates and protein around my workout days. I eat the carbs during my bodybuilding workout days and carb deplete on non-bodybuilding workout days. I will increase the protein on the nonworkout days.

Here is a summary of the topics above:

Establish small goals to achieve your main personal fitness goal.

Use pictures to keep focused on your main goal.

Reward yourself when you meet your in-between goals.

Drink plenty of water.

Always keep plenty of healthy foods around to snack on.

Don't go crazy dieting.

Make sure that you keep on the right path and you will see your goal of abdominal muscles showing when the warm weather returns. Otherwise your spouse may do like mine and start taking measurements for maternity clothes. Perseverance and focus will help keep you on track of your personal fitness goal.

Feel free to use this article for your web site or e-zine as long you include the author bio and make sure all links are live and working. Please don't change anything in the article. You do not have to notify me if you use the article but it would nice if you did. 25 years of blood, sweat and tears literally go into my articles, please be courteous back. If you can't abide by the guidelines, don't use my article! I wish you the best success if you use my article. This article is copyright protected by 'Nature Boy Bodybuilding 2005. Thanks so much! Kevin the Nature Boy.