Flat Stomach Exercises > How to get a Flat Stomach > Flat Tummy Diet
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Planning your meals is a very important first step toward weight loss and maintaining general health. Meals should be planned with protein, fiber and complex carbohydrate in mind. Simple carbohydrates and fats should be in moderate amounts. You will need to keep track of calories consumed as well. A good eating plan starts with a good breakfast, which should be eaten within the first hour after waking.

Recommended Meal Plan

Here is a recommended meal plan that would really help you manage your calorie intake and help you to start losing weight. Portion control is the main idea behind any good diet and this one will give you a good idea of what you should be eating and when.

Breakfast
Eating a good breakfast will give you energy to start your day, as well as wake up your metabolism. An ideal breakfast for energy would be an omelet made from three egg whites and one egg yolk, with a splash of milk and some spices. You can have variety by adding any combination of vegetables or seasonings. You can add peppers of any variety, onions, and even potatoes to your eggs for a fuller flavor. Avoid adding cheeses, since this will add calories. With your omelet, you can have coffee, tea or skim milk. Juices should be only an infrequent treat, since they can be loaded with sugars. For lunch, a light meal is needed to avoid the afternoon crash that we have with heavy foods.

Snacks
Snacks between meals actually help to keep us from getting too hungry and over eating. Snacks can be healthy, too. Some suggestions for snacks between meals are fruits, raw vegetables, baked chips, popcorn (without butter), nuts, and yogurt. A glass of skim milk makes a great snack as well. Keep in mind, that in the end, weight loss is about calories consumed and calories burnt. It is simply plus and minus! If you burn more calories than you take in, you will loss the weight. Likewise, if the energy you spend in your everyday life isn’t enough to burn through the calories you eat, then you will certainly gain weight.

Lunch
The ideal lunch would be a roast beef sandwich on whole wheat bread and a garden salad with a light homemade dressing. For variety, chicken breast or lean beef can be used for the sandwich meat. Leaving the cheese off of the sandwich saves on calories, but feel free to add tomato, lettuce, pickles and onion. Fresh fruit can be substituted for the salad. Water should be the drink of choice for lunch, to provide rehydration and energy.

Dinner
Dinner should be a relaxing meal and should focus on protein and fiber. Leaving out both complex and simple carbohydrates for the last meal of the day, makes it easier to shed off pounds. For dinner a lean cut of steak , fish or chicken breast is good. Grilled or baked is preferred over frying with oil. Experiment with spices and use them liberally to flavor according to taste. Breads and potatoes should only be occasionally used as dinner items. Making salads with a variety of ingredients will add interest to your meal. Heavy foods, like pastas and pizzas should be left as a treat for lunch. Dinner should be served at least two hours before bedtime, since we need time to burn off some of those calories before going to sleep. A glass of wine is nice for dinner. However, if you don’t want the calories, stick to water.

Final Thoughts

Every eating plan seems to be complicated, but it is a simple concept that just takes a while to adjust to and implement. While trying to lose weight, everyone backslides. An eating program has to be sustainable to work, make a commitment to lifestyle changes and the weight will come off!