flat stomach exercises and advices

Unfortunately there are no specific exercises that will make your stomach flatter. You just can't "spot-reduce" fat. All you can do is keep reducing the fat on your body, and hope that it starts to come off where you want it to. Everyone carries their weight in a different way; lots of women find that their hips and thighs are the last places to slim down. Others, like me, find that the abdomen area is the toughest to shift the fat from.

So, basically: have a calorie deficit with your diet, and with exercise. If you're already a healthy weight, a small calorie deficit is best (only aiming to lose maybe 0.5 lb a week.) Strength training (of your whole body) is great to help burn fat, and to help you maintain your muscles as you lose weight. Again though, you can't target that fat burning, so even doing hundreds of crunches won't necessarily mean you lose it around your tummy.

Doing core exercises like planks - although they won't necessarily slim you down in that area, they will strengthen the muscles, and might help your posture, giving the appearance of a slimmer abdomen, while you're waiting for the fat to go.

So I have found that good posture, walking and some combination of yoga/pilates/barre exercise is working incredibly well for me. For quick reference, I am 5'8" , 131 pounds and small framed, and 54 years old. I wear either a size 6 or 8 in most "famous maker " women's jeans. Crunches just don't do it for me. Even in my 30's , roller blading seemed to do more to flatten my stomache. I think it was the twisting of my arms that did it.

I am not going for a "six pack" abs , just overall toned as well as I can be, and I am not in a rush to get there... I like my weight now, and am working on energy level as well as toning. My main hobby is french horn playing, so the walking and Barre 3 fits in well with that and actually enhances my overall enjoyment of my family and career.

Also, random reading of posts on several websites suggests getting enough sleep plays into whether or not more fat accumlates around the abs....

LIsbeth Garcia's "on theball pilates" is great, and it supports your back. also, any sort of planks (there are lots of free videos on the interwebz). Take it slow and just doing crunches alone wont do it. I'm a big fan of pilates and anything jillian micheals.