If you really want to, you can start to burn fat in a couple of days. Want to know how? You’ve got to get yourself into the fat burning mode. That process is called ketosis. Some people can tell if their bodies have started burning fat by how they feel or by the change in the odor of their urine.

It’s as easy as a pregnancy test or the way diabetics used to test for sugar levels. If you want to know for sure, get some paper strips you can wave in the urine stream. A package of the strips can be purchased from your neighborhood pharmacy for about $15. They will turn colors if a significant amount of the byproduct of fat burning is present.

Helping your body kick into the fat burning mode is also a relatively simple process. Cut back your caloric intake to somewhere between 1200-1500 calories. Severely restrict sweets and other high sugar carbohydrates and food with a high glycemic index.

Cut back on starchy foods (including vegetables such as potatoes and lima beans), virtually all grains (bread, crackers, pasta), and restrict significant protein intake to a couple of times per day. Protein servings should be about the size of a deck of cards.

It will only take about two or three days, if you exercise enough self-discipline. Here’s the really good news: once your body kicks into gear to burn fat, the fat your body is using will add to your energy levels and help keep your spirits up.

It may come as a shock, but for many who are dedicated to daily workouts, six months of crunches may not produce the flat abs you hope for. Hundreds of crunches will definitely improve core strength and function as a hedge against injury. However, they aren’t enough to get the job done.

For one thing, if you have a wonderful set of abs but they’re buried under layers of fat, neither you nor anyone else will get a look at them. The place to start is with your diet. Slender men and women typically eat five or six small meals a day, roughly three hours apart. The instant effect will be to bump your metabolism throughout the day and that results in burning more calories on an ongoing basis.

In fact, if you were to take the large dinner meal you ordinarily have and divide the exact same amount of foods into several smaller meals, you would actually begin to lose weight. All of those who say, “I only eat one meal a day and yet I either stay the same or gain weight” aren’t paying attention to the research.

Eating a single, huge meal at any time of day, but especially in the evening, results in keeping virtually all of those calories onboard. What your body can’t use right then gets converted to fat. It also creates problems for the overworked pancreas, which tries hard to provide enough insulin to counter the big meal sugar spike.

Instead, pare down the meals and spread them out. Then, once the muscles are all pumped and buffed, they will be visible. If you want to know how to get abs – it’s not complicated. In fact, yours are just waiting for you to discover them.

P90X is a fitness workout created by Tony Horton and Beachbody and consists of 13 DVDs’ and possibly the first workout program that will have you developing a “Love/Hate” relationship. You will love it because of the changes you will experience but you will hate it because it is possibly one of the hardest workouts that you will experience. The workouts are diverse and you will find yourself doing Yoga and Kenpo karate.

Although it is not considered a weight loss program, people who have used it have lost weight on it.

Included is a well thought out nutrition guide to help you eat better and plan your meals. Nutrition is 60-70 percent of the battle and no program will work without a sound nutrition plan. Believe me when I say you will need a sound eating plan if you expect to be able to take on the X.

The program is broken down into 3 phases and each phase will be more intense than the previous phase. Your nutrition requirements will also be adjusted after each phase. After each phase you will have what is called a recovery week.

The P90X program revolves around the muscle confusion principle where the idea is for you keep your muscles from getting used to the workouts and therefore constantly making progress.

Since the program is mainly a bodyweight program and you will not need much in the form of equipment but you will need some. Since this is a do it at home workout program you will need at minimum a pull-up bar which will be attached to your door entry and allows you to do pull-ups or chin-ups, some push-up bar’s, resistance bands and a workout mat for Yoga.

The resistance bands can be used in place of dumbbells and also used with the pull-up bar for those who are not yet capable of doing chin-ups or pull-ups.

Is this program for beginners, well not going to lie as it is a very tough workout but if you are determined, you can do it? Just remember that unless you are already in good physical shape you will not be able to do what the people in the DVD do, remember that they have done the program before and are physically fit. You are not expected to but you are expected to do your best and bring it, as the creator Tony Horton puts it. Remember that I said you would develop a Love/Hate relationship with it.

So go ahead, give it your best effort, and don’t forget the rest and recovery week. You will need it.