When you get up at five every day – sleeping in is an impossiblity.

Why is it that when you wake up early it seems to be the light that wakes you?  Its not actually really light outside at five am, but something about the light is different and its the first thing you notice.

And then it seems to get darker… like everything is conspiring to make you feel more and more like you should be sleeping.

You start yawning. Your eyes are sore. (well of course they are you are waking up too bloody early). And your body feels liquid tired.

But as soon as you try to sleep again. You are wide awake.

And I dont know about you, but I can’t fall asleep by thinking of boring things. I just get bored. Which sucks. Because now I am bored AND awake early.

I think the only solution is to blog about it. So good morning.

**Okay I know its alwful when people call it belly fat – I prefer stomach flub – but I didn’t write this article I am just posting it because I am nice and helpful. (And good looking and friendly and witty and smart).

Read it.

Stubborn abdominal fat is like an unwanted guest you just can’t get rid of, and kicking it to the curb can be the mother of all exercise and health challenges. But some methods are more promising than others. Here are 8 tactics to rid yourself of stomach fat.

1. Exercise and eat right
No kidding, right? Yet so many of us sabotage this no-brainer of a gut-busting plan. Study after study proves that eating a well-balanced diet heavy in fruits, veggies and whole grains and low in fat and refined sugars, plus exercising regularly, will help you shed not only subcutaneous fat (the surface fat that makes love handles), but also the deeper visceral fat, which builds up around abdominal organs and can raise your chance of suffering high cholesterol, heart disease, or type 2 diabetes. And regular exercise not only helps you slim down your whole body, it actually shrinks the size of fat cells in your stomach.

2. Get down to your healthy weight
Losing that gut isn’t easy, but you can improve your contours (and lower your risk of heart disease and cancer) by lowering your overall body mass index. (Learn your BMI at the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s website.) A healthy adult BMI is roughly 19 to 25. You can do as many crunches as you want, but if you’re overweight, your abs will be hidden under a padding of fat. (By the same token, you can be naturally slim but still carry a paunch if you don’t exercise or eat right. Bottom line: think of Tactic #1 as the Golden Gut-busting Rule.)

3. Don’t be a stress case
Scientists are studying the link between stress and belly fat. Heightened cortisol levels in blood, resulting from stress, seem to react with the body’s insulin to create visceral abdominal fat — and, in a double whammy, to also drive us toward fatty, sugary foods. Reducing stress may make it easier to say no to barbecue chips or chocolate truffles that go straight to the waistline. Try yoga as a way of cutting stress. Bonus: it’ll tone you, too. And if your daily commute is a cause of stress, wear an iPod or read a funny book to help you chill out on public transportation; if you drive, consider ways to reduce your commuting time.

4. Stop boozing, quit smoking
Think cigarettes keep you thin? Think again. Both smoking and alcohol raise the levels of the stress hormone cortisol in your body. See Tactic #3 for a refresher on what that means for your gut.

5. Hire a personal trainer
Embarking on a fitness regime is more likely to be successful if you invest in some one-on-one workouts with a personal trainer. She can devise a regimen that will give you the right amount of cardio plus strength training to help you tone up, and target trouble spots most effectively. And the faster you see results, the more likely you are to stay motivated — and active.

6. Skip the Thai, meet for sushi instead
A recent Japanese study found that fucoxanthin, a compound in brown seaweed, shrank abdominal fat in lab animals, and encouraged a five to 10 per cent weight loss. Human studies are next, but the scientists are excited. And you should be too, if you love Japanese food. Order that miso soup or seaweed salad. Not only do these low-fat appetizers contain seaweed, they’ll fill you up so you won’t pig out on that caloriepaloooza known as tempura.

7. Avoid trans fats like the plague
Yes, we already mentioned a low-fat diet in Tactic #1, but trans-fatty acids, found in many convenience foods, deserve their own mention. Trans fats are linked to cardiovascular disease, and, as if that weren’t enough, they literally go straight to your belly. A recent study found that not only do trans fats create excess visceral fat in the abdomen, they actually cause fat from other parts of the body to redistribute there.

8. Don’t believe late-night infomercials
A study by the American Council on Exercise (ACE) found that expensive ab-targeting home-exercise equipment is no better than (and in some cases, is worse than) good, old-fashioned exercises. Skip the gimmicks and work these three ab moves into your workout: the bicycle manouver, reverse crunches and pull-ups done in a captain’s chair (an old school Rocky Balboa-style gym staple you’ll probably never find a lineup for at your club). Go to the ACE’s website for how-tos on these simple moves.

(http://www.acefitness.org/getfit/studies/BestWorstAbExercises.pdf )

(This article taken from : http://www.canadianliving.com/health/fitness/8_ways_to_blast_belly_fat_exercise_and_diet_tips_for_a_slimmer_stomach.php)

I just found this bit about getting fit by doing the stairs and thought I should share it with everyone. So… Enjoy.

Step it up
Health Canada encourages Canadians to TAKE THE STAIRS. Whether you work or live in a building with stairs, ditch the elevator and/or escalator and climb your way to a fitter you. An average 160-pound person can burn about 50 calories climbing up stairs for four minutes. If that person continues to take the stairs for the same length of time five days a week, by the end of the year he or she burns about 12,700 calories (or about four pounds of fat). If there are too many stairs to climb in order to reach your destination, start by climbing up one or two flights before hopping on the elevator. Health Canada’s Stairway to Health online calculator offers a fun way to see how even little efforts pay off in a big way over time.

(I didn’t write it by the way, I just stole it from somewhere else. )