One major difficulty people have when it comes to getting a flat stomach is finding the motivation to start and remaining motivated after altering regularity of exercise and eating habits.

Woman and men feel pressure to be thin (this is not just a feminine issue) If you are losing weight or just want to get a flat stomach because of pressure from the media to be thin please reconsider your motives. The media is a very powerful and major influence in the development of eating disorders amongst males and females. The fashion industry is also notorious for using skinny models to advertise skinny fit clothing, and we have an unrealistic slim ideal forced upon us every day by the media. Realistically speaking who would want live up to these unattainable unhealthy pressures on a day to day basis?

In the long run losing weight the healthy way will not only give you peace of mind you will also be closer to your goal of a slim stomach without falling prey to an eating disorder.

Another type of pressure that you may face is from family and friends. You may have friends or even family members who tease you and think they are making you a favour by influencing you to exercise. If this is the case please do not lose weight for someone else. Although they may have good intentions you should not be under any pressure to lose weight for anyone else.

If you eager to lose weight because the prevalence of skinny models gracing the cover of magazines has made you feel insecure please do not feel you have to lose weight to be accepted by society. Beauty is only skin deep. Health is more important than wealth, vanity and beauty and your health is always your top priority. Losing a small amount of weight will do wonders for your health and is much more far-reaching and long lasting then many of us realise.

Motivation is a key issue for anyone wanting to lose weight and keep it off. To keep focused and remain motivated it is a good idea to think about the benefits of staying slim and how much better you would feel to have an improved figure and flat belly.

One of the long term benefits of being slim is a reduced risk of diabetes, stroke, heart disease and many other diseases. When we exercise we also have improved heart function making activities such as running for the bus much easier. This may sound trivial but there are many of us who are so unfit that running for a bus or climbing the stairs would leave us gasping for breath.

Planning your exercise activity for the week is also an excellent way of improving behaviour change. Consistency is also important, as restructuring your daily routine and keeping aside a slot every day for exercise will create a habit. Habits are not too difficult to form and once you get stuck into your flat stomach exercises it will feel like second nature to you!

Although as mentioned above consistency is important (in the initial stage) you may find after a few weeks that you become bored and your goal to get flat stomach is no longer inspiring you so exercise variety is also key. You could perhaps change routes whilst jogging/cycling or you change environments or if you use the gym you could cross train instead of using the same machines etc.

Goal setting is also a good way to increase motivation. If you set your sights on your target weight and mix up your exercise routine with flat stomach workouts whilst monitoring your progress you feel more encouraged and carrying on exercising every day will feel more purposeful and exciting.