How To Get a V Cut

You've seen them at the gym and on countless vanity Tumblr pages - impossibly buff lower abs that make a raised "V" shape above the pelvis. Do these tremendously tight midsections leave you feeling envious? Is your own flabby, doughy stomach no longer "cutting" it? Have no fear - with an aggressive abdominal workout and smart fat-cutting decisions, you too can build up an eye-catching V cut. Be warned - some people may be more genetically predisposed to this feature than others.^[1] See Step 1 below to get started.

Part 1 of 2: Strengthening Lower Abs

1. 1
   Hit your lower ab region with a variety of exercises. The rectus abdominis (your "six pack" muscle) stretches from the bottom of your chest to the top of your hips.^[2] Though many work out the upper and middle portions of this muscle with sit-ups and crunches, for a strong, defined V cut, it's best to include workouts that hit the lower abs as well. A varied lower ab routine, in addition to building strength and definition in the region, can build overall core strength and reduce the risk of back pain. Below are some examples of lower ab exercises that can help you work on that V cut.

2

Do leg lifts. This exercise builds lower ab strength by forcing your abdominal muscles to raise your hips and legs off of the ground in a vertical column. To do this exercise:

• Begin by lying flat on your back. You can use a mat for comfort. Put your palms face-down at your sides.
• Lift your legs off of the ground so that they are pointing straight up towards the ceiling. Your body should form an "L".
• Concentrating on using your lower ab muscles, gently lift your hips off the floor, keeping your legs straight. Hold for a second, then lower your hips back to the floor. Use smooth, controlled movements - don't bounce or jerk.
• Repeat. Do this exercise until you feel the telltale "burn", or for 4 sets of 15 reps.

1. 3
   Do hanging leg raises. This powerful exercise requires you to suspend yourself from a chin-up bar. In addition to building your lower abs, this exercise will, as a side benefit, increase your grip strength. To do this exercise:
   • Hang beneath a chin-up bar or another sturdy horizontal bar. Use a medium-wide grip. Your body should point straight towards the ground, with your hips very slightly rolled back.
   • Raise your legs, knees bent, until your thighs make a 90-degree (L-shaped) angle with your torso. Hold this shape for a second, then gently lower your legs back to their starting position.
     • Avoid twisting, jerking, or swinging your feet for this exercise. Improper form can cause pain or even injury.
   • Repeat the exercise until you feel the burn, or for about 3-4 sets of 10-20 reps.
   • Variations on this exercise exist. To make the exercise easier, you can use a specially-designed vertical bench which includes pads to rest your arms on. For an added challenge, you can want to keep your legs straight as you raise them or even add a weight between your feet. However, use caution when making this exercise more difficult - too much weight too fast carries the risk of a hernia.^[4]
2. 
   4
   Do reverse crunches. These fairly simple lower ab exercises are a great addition to any ab workout. To do this exercise;
   • Begin by lying on your back with your legs raised in a "tabletop" position - your legs raised with knees bent. In other words, your thighs should form a 90 degree angle with the ground and your shins should form a 90 degree angle with your thighs.
   • Spread your arms wide with your palms touching the ground. This provides a wide base to help you balance.
   • Keeping your upper back still, use your lower abs to lift your hips off the floor. Your knees should come towards your chest.
   • Hold this position for a second, then lower your hips back towards the ground gently.
   • Repeat until you feel the burn, or for several sets of 12-20 reps.
   • This exercise can be made more difficult by holding a small dumbbell between your feet. However, as always, use caution when performing ab exercises with extra weight to avoid injury.
3. 
   5
   Do an ab V hold. The ab V hold requires you to balance in a position that requires lower abdominal strength to maintain and to hold this position. The longer you do the ab V hold, the greater the burn you'll feel. To do this exercise:
   • Begin by laying flat on your back.
   • With both hands at your side, gently and carefully raise both your legs and your torso about 45 degrees off the floor. Your body should form a "V" with your hips touching the floor. Keep your legs straight and maintain strong, balanced posture.
   • Brace your ab muscles and uses your arms for balance. Some people find it easier to balance if they extend their arms parallel to the floor, pointing in the direction of their legs. However, if you do this, don't use your arms to support your legs at all.
   • Hold this position. Hold this position until you feel the burn, usually about 30 seconds to 2 minutes. Repeat as needed.
4. 
   6
   Maintain a balanced core routine. Though your V cut mostly depends on your level of body fat, your genetics, and your lower ab strength, it's a very wise idea to practice a comprehensive core routine. Not only will this give your midsection a "rounded out" appearance, rather than a lopsided or uneven one, it'll improve your overall strength, comfort, and health. Core strength is frequently correlated with relief from back pain^[5] and other common maladies. So, before you pursue your V cut with dogged determination, be sure to plan on working out the rest of your core as well. Below are a few exercises you might consider:
   • Side crunches. These easy exercises modify the basic crunch so that it hits both your obliques and your central ab muscles.
   • Bridges. These exercises are great for strengthening the lower back without straining it. A great choice for people with lower back pain.
   • Lunges. Don't forget that your hips and legs are part of your core! Lunges are body weight exercises, that, in addition to strengthening your thighs, glutes, hips, and back, can improve your sense of balance.
   • Yoga poses. Yoga is a highly effective, yet relaxing way to improve your core strength. It also has numerous side-benefits, including increased flexibility and balance.

Part 2 of 2: Cutting Body Fat

1. 
   1
   Have a lean, healthy diet. Even the strongest, most well-developed ab muscles are invisible if they're buried under fat - most heavyweight power lifters, for instance, have tremendously strong cores, but can appear fat because of their relatively high level of body fat. If you have abdominal fat around your midsection, cutting your level of body fat is an absolute necessity if you're interested in getting a V cut, and one of the best ways to do so is with a weight-loss diet. Eat fewer calories than you burn each day, while making sure to get all of the nutrients your body needs to thrive, and you will lose weight at a healthy, controlled pace.
   • There are countless weight-loss diets offered both online and in print. Some are healthy and sensible, others are amateurish and unrealistic, and still others are unhealthy. Most good weight-loss diets will recommend a diet based on some combination of the following advice:^[6]
     • Eat few sugary, fatty foods. Eliminate desserts from your diet, except for rare indulgences.
     • Eat lean, filling protein. Chicken breasts are a great choice, as are certain types of fish and leaner cuts of red meat. Low-fat dairy, nuts, and seeds are also good choices.
     • Eat fresh fruits and vegetables. These nutrient-dense, low-calorie foods are essential for maintaining your body's health.
     • Eat sensible amounts of carbohydrates. Whenever possible, opt for healthier, more-filling whole-wheat varieties of bread and nutritious starch products.
   • Your weight-loss diet shouldn't be based on starvation or purging. Everyoneneeds to eat to a certain degree each day. Depriving your body of the food it needs will leave you tired and irritable and dull your senses. You'll be less able to perform the muscle-building exercises you'll need to build your V cut muscles and you may even experience muscle loss. In truly severe cases, you can even seriously endanger your health.
2. 
   2
   Do cardio exercise. Cardio is a great way to burn calories (and, paired with a healthy diet, fat). Cardio also has a variety of other health benefits - making cardio exercise part of your routine can lower your heart rate, improve blood flow, increase your daily energy level, and simply make you feel better.^[7] A wide variety of cardio exercises require little in the way of special equipment or financial investment - for instance, jogging, running, walking, swimming, hiking, and cycling are enjoyed by millions of people all over the world every day. Your body is a furnace - light the fire and you'll see results.
   • Running is one of the simplest, yet most intense and effective forms of cardio exercise. Balance running at high rates with jogging and walking to boost your metabolism. Rest at least a day between hard runs, but try to do some minor exercise on days off - for example, walk for half an hour.
3. 
   3
   Drink lots of water. Drinking water has been thought for years to aid in, or even facilitate, weight loss.^[8] More importantly, however, is its vital importance to nearly all bodily functions. Since you have (hopefully) started cardio exercise, you'll be losing much more water than usual through sweat, which you'll need to replace to keep yourself feeling alert, focused, and healthy. Many diets recommend at least 8 eight-ounce glasses of water per day.^[9]
4. 
   4
   Consider resistance training. Certain studies have shown that cardio exercise, rather than resistance (strength-training) exercise, is the best choice for losing weight.^[10] However, some exercise aficionados swear by a combination of resistance training and cardio exercise, citing the fact that, while cardio alone can burn fat, building muscle through resistance training can raise your overall metabolism and thus increase the baseline caloric amount that you burn per day. If you're currently on a weight-loss diet, you're unlikely to build much muscle through resistance training. However, you will improve your form and, according to some sources, will greatly reduce the amount of muscle that you lose as you lose weight, instead losing fat almost exclusively.
   • If you do opt for resistance exercise, perform a healthy, balanced regimen ofweightlifting and body weight-type exercises. Proceed slowly - never jump straight to high-weight exercises, or you risk serious injury.
5. 
   5
   Raise your overall activity level. One of the single most effective ways to lose fat doesn't involve drastic dieting or time-consuming exercise, which can be especially difficult to work into your schedule if you find yourself constantly busy. Simply look for opportunities to increase your physical activity level every day. Almost anything you can do to stay active throughout the day will have a boosting effect on your metabolism, which, all other things being equal, can cause you to lose weight. Try to look for ways to increase your activity during these everyday tasks:
   • Daily commute/transportation. Rather than driving to work, consider walking, running, or biking. Investigate public transportation options, which will require you to walk to and from the stop.
   • Work. If your job requires you to sit at a desk all day, look for opportunities to get out of the chair. Consider investing in a standing or walking desk, or, if you can, just place your computer on top of a box or two to create a "poor man's" standing desk. Switching up your desk routine is also a great idea for preventing back pain.^[11]
   • Home relaxation. Rather than relaxing on the couch in front of the TV at home, keep moving on an elliptical trainer or do some simple exercises (like jumping jacks or lunges) on the floor.
6. 
   6
   Be consistent and patient. This kind of definition does not develop overnight.

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How To Stop Emotional eating

Don’t feel bad – we’ve all been there. It was a rough day at the office, or you had an argument with your boyfriend – and a pint of Ben and Jerry’s was there to be your friend and make you feel better. Or maybe you overeat regularly, because food fills an emptiness that you feel in your life.

Nearly everyone is an emotional eater at some point in their life, whether it’s just a candy bar when they’re bored or a little chocolate when PMS has your hormones out of whack.

The problem comes when emotional eating becomes more than occasional, and develops into a full-blown habit. It’s one of the biggest causes of weight gain, and one of the hardest things to control when we’re trying to lose weight. But we’ve got 5 tips for helping you overcome your emotional eating habits:

1. Chew Gum

It might It might seem too simple to be true, but many times just the act of chewing is enough to chase away that urge to grab a box of cookies.

Make sure to have plenty of sugar-free gum at your home and office, and anytime you start getting a craving, pop a piece in your mouth and chew!
 
 
2. Keep A Journal

1

Keeping a food journal can make a big difference by helping you recognize what is triggering your emotional eating. Each time you eat, write 

down

 in your journal whether or not you actually felt hungry, and how you were feeling emotionally.

You’ll soon start to see if your binges are around the same time each day, which will give you insight into why you’re eating at that moment. Something as simple as changing your schedule can help change the emotional eating habit.
 

3. Implement A Daily Workout Regimen

1

Stop emotional eating in its tracks by introducing daily exercise into your schedule. Not only does it burn calories, but it increases circulation and produces endorphins, which makes you feel good – feeling good makes you less likely to turn to food.

If you start feeling the urge to nosh and realize that’s because of boredom or stress, get up and do a little exercise, even if it’s just taking a walk around your neighborhood. Exercise plus a change of scenery – just what you need to put the brakes on your emotional eating.
 
 4. Create A Replacement Habit

1

Instead of running for food to feel good, find another habit that beats your bad feelings. Start a blog, take a dance class, learn to macramé or knit. Select something that keeps your mind and hands busy, and do it every day for a month to start a new habit.
 5. Ask Yourself One Question

1

One of the simplest ways to stop emotional eating is to ask yourself this one question every time you start to eat: Am I really hungry?

Many times, we turn to food because we’re sad, stressed or just bored. Before you make that sandwich or open that pack of cookies, stop for a moment, and ask yourself if your body is actually hungry. If it’s not – or you aren’t sure – drink a glass of water and go do something else for 30 minutes.

http://www.urbanewomen.com/how-to-stop-emotional-eating.html

10 Things You Didn't Know About Ariana Grande

Pop's New Princess

Nickelodeon star and pop darling Ariana Grande is poised to cap off her monumental year with a Top New Artist win at the 2014 Billboard Music Awards. To celebrate her nomination, we dug up a few interesting facts about the 20-year-old talent.

1. She had a supernatural experience

While in Kansas City for a performance, Grande and her band decided to go to Stull Cemetery, which is considered in some circles as one of the seven gates to Hell on Earth. There, she had what she described to Complex as a demonic experience. After feeling "sick" and seeing "signs" of demonic presence, Grande "took a picture and there are three super-distinct faces in the picture — they're faces of textbook demons." Before she deleted the pictures, she heard strange noises and whispers and even saw a black mass in her bedroom at night.

2. She's more Streisand than Cyrus

Unlike her hypersexual pop music peer, Miley Cyrus, Grande favors being a bit more demure. "I like Barbra Streisand, and when was the last time you saw Babs getting, like, turnt up? That's kind of the road that I, as a lady, would like to go down," she told Cosmopolitan. She has openly admitted she's "not comfortable enough to be forwardly sexual."

3. She's "obsessed" with Harry Potter

Actually, Grande is admittedly "a big nerd." Of her hobbies outside of music, the starlet told Complex, "I love Lord of the Rings. I love Harry Potter. I love scary movies. I love dinosaurs, science, aliens, ghosts." She considers herself an old soul, noting that ideal evenings for her involve hanging out in her PJs, singing and watching Harry Potter. Unlike her friends who are partyers, Grande "never really clicked with that."

4. Her nonna taught her how to deal with haters

Like most young celebrities, Grande often has to endure taunts from detractors, particularly on Twitter. "Oh, they're evil as hell!" she laughed in an interview with Cosmopolitan. But she doesn't let it get her down, thanks to some advice she got from her grandmother. "I said, 'Nonna, how do you deal with the jealous ladies at the home where you live?' And she said, 'I don't blame them. I'd be jealous too.'"

5. She's a reformed Italian eater

Coming from a "stereotypical poker-playing, loud, friendly, food-shoving, loving Italian family," Grande consumed more than her fair share of carbs growing up, but not anymore. "When I was a kid, I was raised to believe a bowl of pasta was healthy and good for you," she explained. "Then I was like, 'Wow, I've been killing myself all these years.'" Now, she says, she only eats "salmon, vegetables and fruits — super-healthy."

6. She's got Miley's back

She may not have much in common with Cyrus personally or professionally, but that doesn't mean she agrees with all of the Miley backlash. "Miley looks like she is having the time of her life, and I think anybody who's giving her a hard time is wishing deep down they were having as much fun as she is right now," Grande said. "People are being so cruel. I think that's bullying, and she should do whatever the hell she wants."

7. There's a method to her social media madness

Grande is known as a social media maven, often interacting with her fans through Twitter and Instagram. But the pop star has certain rules when it comes to these outlets. A major don't? "Not too many selfies," she told Glamour. "Space them out — you have to wait a few days in between selfies." She does, however, encourage making your Instagram "look cohesive" and "clean and precise."

8. Her musical inspirations span about six decades

Grande definitely counts some contemporary artists among her musical role models — like India.Arie, Imogen Heap and Frank Ocean — but much of her inspiration also comes from decades past. "My favorite era was the '50s and '60s… the Chiffons, the Shangri-Las," she revealed to The Guardian. "My grandparents played it and I fell in love with it, because it was more about romance and love, and less about getting drunk and going home with someone you don't know."

9. Justin Bieber's manager hooked her up with her ex-boyfriend

Grande is totally open with her fans, so she didn't have any qualms about revealing her relationship with Nathan Sykes of The Wanted via social media. But how did she meet the boy band cutie who, despite being broken up, still holds her in high regard? They met when Sykes was "headhunted" by Scooter Braun — Grande's manager who is, perhaps, most famously the manager responsible for Justin Bieber.

10. Her domesticity was not inherited

Grande, who loves baking and gardening, says she definitely didn't get her homemaker traits from her mother. "My mom is a CEO and owns a company that manufactures communications equipment for the Marines and the Navy, so she's not really the housewife type, if you get what I'm saying. She's the most bada**, independent woman you'll ever meet — not the cookies-in-the-oven type."

from: sheknows.com

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